Barefoot luxury

If you take the term ‘Barefoot Luxury’ literally, you imagine heading off to a desert island paradise, ditching your shoes and running around free as a bird on golden sands, feeling each grain sinking between your toes before gentle waves lap your feet and wash away that sumptuous grittiness.

It’s a romantic notion, but at many Six Senses resorts, barefoot luxury is just that.

When you arrive in the Maldives and board one of Soneva Gili’s luxury yachts that transports you to the island, one of the first things guests are asked to do is remove their shoes.

The Bangkok-based company, which has become synonymous with ‘Barefoot Luxury’, has a policy of ‘No news, no shoes’ and for the duration of their stay, most guests comply.

On Soneva Gili you breakfast, lunch and dinner in bare feet, ride bikes around the island in bare feet and when it comes to the end of your stay and shoes are once more required when disembarking the yacht on which you arrived, it feels foreign to say the least.

But when defining ‘Barefoot Luxury’, there’s much more to it than throwing away your shoes for a week as industry professionals — and the Six Senses team — explain.

“‘Barefoot Luxury’ is synonymous with a ‘natural’ experience, which is very much a trend these days,” explains Six Senses Resorts and Spas managing director Bernhard Bohnenberger.

“It’s about getting back to nature and being at one with the environment.

“Six Senses was the leader of this trend and continues to implement it at new properties that are climate appropriate.

“We find that our clients really like the concept. Some emerging markets took longer than others to adapt to it, but it is very much universally enjoyed nowadays and the Middle East is no exception.”

He notes that in every market, there are luxury travellers who prefer a ‘bling’ experience, rather than a barefoot experience, but that there are “enough alternative resorts to satisfy them”.

The destination development team at Emirates Holidays concurs, but believes that the days of ‘old luxury’, where gentlemen wore a tie for dinner and waiters wore white gloves, are truly behind us.

“In the past, people with money would stay at expensive hotels where it was a formal affair,” says destination development manager for the Middle East, Africa and Indian Ocean, Merja Pollok.

“People would dress for dinner, but nowadays it has totally changed — people who make a lot of money want to relax when they go on holiday; they want to wear old jeans and t-shirts when they go to dinner.”

Her colleague, destination development manager for Asia and Australasia, Davinder Kaur, adds that the modern luxury traveller demands subtlety, particularly where service is concerned.

“They don’t want someone in their face every five minutes asking them if they need something,” she says.

“They want staff to be in the background, anticipating their needs.”Kaur also stresses that to her — and to many top-end customers — ‘Barefoot Luxury’ is defined as a place where you are “in-sync with the environment”.

Both Kaur and Pollok agree that Six Senses is a trailblazer for this concept. Many of its properties, which span several brands including Soneva by Six Senses, Six Senses Hideaways, Six Senses Latitudes, Six Senses Destination Spas and Evason, are made from natural materials, adopt sustainable practices and strive to reduce their carbon footprint.

In fact, it defines its core purpose as ‘to create innovative and enlightening experiences that rejuvenate our guests’ love of SLOW LIFE (Sustainable, Local, Organic, Wholesome, Learning, Inspiring, Fun, Experiences).

“The values communicated in the SLOW LIFE commitment positions Six Senses as the leader in providing sustainable tourism options for consumers, suppliers and partners — from the use of building materials and finishes from sustainable and local sources wherever possible, to the quality and origin of the food that is offered, and to the innovative experiences that not only are fun, but also heighten guest’s knowledge,” says the company brief.

“Reduction of carbon footprints that result from transporting goods over long distances is a prime component of SLOW LIFE, as is the sourcing of prime produce from local communities. Chemical-free organic options also result in more wholesome offerings and enhanced flavours. Keeping guests informed of these initiatives teaches them how to reflect the philosophy into their own lives, and how these intelligent alternatives benefits them individually and our planet as a whole.”

For clients looking for a Six Senses property close to home, their best bet is the Six Senses Hideaway in Zighy Bay, Oman, on the Mussandam Peninsula. The company has also opened an Evason property in Jordan and has just revealed plans to open its third in the MENA region — in Port Ghalib on the Red Sea.

However, it’s at the firm’s top-tier brand — Soneva — where the true barefoot luxury is to be found. There are just three properties that fall under this brand — Soneva Fushi and Soneva Gili, both in the Maldives and the forthcoming Soneva Kiri property in Thailand, which is due to open this summer.

Soneva Kiri is situated on a 41-hectare or 102-acre site on the island of Kood — a virtually untouched island known for its tropical landscape, clear waters and white sandy beaches.

In preparation for its opening, the company is already offering a ‘SLOW LIFE packages’, which includes private transfers to and from Bangkok International Airport, breakfast daily, an in-villa BBQ, cookery classes, a private SLOW FOOD lunch, and much more (prices available on request).

Accommodation is in an Eco Villa or Hill Villa Suite and it’s the ‘eco’ element, as well as such a unique experience, that luxury travellers are increasingly demanding, a panel discussion on ‘Who is the EcoTourist’ at last month’s ITB conference in Berlin revealed.

Jurgen Maier of American Express International presented results of research the company conducted on the green marketplace, which suggested that a typical eco-traveller is around 30 years old, living a healthy lifestyle that is good for themselves and good for the world — the ‘Conscious Consumer’.

In fact, green travel is the new luxury travellers, says Amex. Another panelist, Andrew Harding, founder of Nature and Kind believes travellers desire more immersive and diverse experiences, yet lack the time to research holiday options. He therefore suggests that it’s not green and ethical travel that is the luxury commodity, but the time travellers crave.

Amex’s research found the new breed of traveller emerging demands a unique experience, value for time and money, access to valuable knowledge and the opportunity to be conscientious. These consumers are loyal, passionate travellers, argues Harding, and there are rich rewards for companies that can strike a relationship with them with examples of companies having achieved this, according the panel, including Ritz-Carlton, which gets involved with community projects.

Guests who show an active interest are invited to visit the projects and can get involved. The panel said that even though the programme is not marketed, promoted only by word of mouth, it has a 50% uptake.

Emirates Holidays’ Pollok and Kaur say that whether ‘Barefoot Luxury’ is about the ‘conscious consumer’ taking part in community projects or the visitor to Soneva Gili leaving his shoes in a ‘No new, no shoes’ bag for seven days of shoe-free freedom, the trend is growing in popularity Kaur concludes: “It’s about relaxation and the luxury of space and time.”